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Sunday, June 20, 2010

I hadn't really planned to write about this story, because you've probably all heard about it by now, so it's old news. Just in case you don't know the story, below is slightly edited excerpt from the ABA Journal.

Well, I had an Aha Moment while I was buttering my waffles this morning. You know when you butter the waffle and it starts melting into all the little squares, which are sort of like nooks and crannies? The syrup gets all stuck in there too and it's just one big plate of deliciousness?

So I was buttering and thinking about how the only reason that the little squares are possible is because of the waffle iron. Then the Thomas' English muffins nooks and crannies story came to mind. I thought, "Imagine if the only reason for the nooks and crannies is that they have a special pan or English muffin iron that creates the indentations similar to a waffle iron."

Large holes and spaces in any sort of bread are due to the gasses produced during fermentation of the yeast--the punching-down of traditional bread after rising squeezes out the excess air (it's CO2) and the kneading and forming develop stronger strands of gluten, strengthening the network of cells the remaining CO2 can work within.

My educated guess (hey, that culinary degree occasionally comes in handy!) would be that the nooks and crannies might be a product of deliberate over-proofing. Just like Hershey's chocolate has that distinctive taste (compared to European chocolate) from the slight souring of the milk during production, sometimes good things come out of processes that might otherwise be considered "wrong."

I had never given so much thought to the nooks and crannies before,But I also think it is due to the fermentation process.In India we make something called a dosa with rice/lentils ,something like a pancake cooked on a skillet, the fermentation of the lentils brings out tiny holes.